Teens Prefer Tumblr Over Facebook

January 15, 2013

Tumblr is more popular than Facebook among young social media users, according to a recent survey by Posterous co-founder Garry Tan. Out of an impressive field of social sites – including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat – Tumblr was the favorite social network for the two age groups surveyed, ages 13-18 (teens) and 19-25 (young adults).

Here’s the breakdown per platform:

Tumblr dominated, used regularly by 61% of teens and 57% of young adults surveyed

Facebook drew in 55% of teens and 52% of young adults

Twitter was used regularly by 22% of teens and 17% of young adults

Instagram drew in 21% of teens and only 11% of young adults

Snapchat (the newest of the platforms) earned 13% of teens and just 4% of young adults

Younger teenagers showed more interest in social media sites than young adults on every social media platform examined.

Are you surprised by Tumblr’s dominance over Facebook in this demographic? And do you think up-and-comer Snapchat has a chance to rival more established photo-sharing network Instagram – at least among a younger audience?

Tan used Survata to survey 1,038 people in two groups — those aged 13-18 (546 responses) and 19-25 (492 responses) — and asked which services they used regularly.